The present invention represents an important improvement in poultry management. More particularly, improved methods and apparatus are employed for raising broilers with increased efficiency and quality, as well as with substantial economical advantages.
In conventional broiler-raising operations, large houses are provided for receiving very young chicks. For a period of approximately 7 weeks, the chicks remain in the house where they freely roam. Food and water are continuously available, and the house is suitably heated or ventilated as conditions require. A 7-week period is employed to finish the broilers since the so-called "feed conversion rate" drops significantly as the birds remain in the house beyond that age. Feed conversion involves the relationship of food consumed to increase the bird's body weight, and this parameter is of particular importance to the poultry grower.
For a given broiler house, only relatively few broiler cycles are possible each year. Allowing one week for cleaning the house after a group of broilers is removed, conventional broiler house usage permits a maximum of 6.5 grow-outs to be completed each year ##EQU1## In practice, however, the average number of broiler cycles has been found to be 5.2 to 5.5 grow-outs per year. This indicates that the actual time required between grow-outs is greater than one week.
A typical broiler house having dimensions of approximately 36'.times.450' will accommodate about 20,000 birds. This is because an average 7-week-old broiler occupies roughly 0.75 sq. ft. In the case where a grower has 5 houses, he can produce approximately 100,000 broilers per grow-out. If he desires to double his production by conventional grow-out techniques, he must build an additional 5 houses.
If, in accordance with the present invention, the operator of the broiler finishing houses is provided with birds at 3 weeks of age, only 4 weeks are required in the houses to produce finished broilers. Furthermore, the houses do not have to be completely cleaned after only 4 weeks of occupancy. Consequently, over the course of a year, cleanout time can more correctly be said to average one week per group of birds than in the case where the houses are used for 7 weeks for each grow-out. Under such circumstances, the broiler house operator can achieve 10.4 grow-outs per year ##EQU2## As compared with the conventional average of about 5.2 grow-outs per year, by raising birds just from their 4th through 7th weeks, the operator can double his production without having to increase the number of finishing houses.
In accordance with the invention to be described in detail hereinafter, a high density brood house is provided for raising chicks until they are approximately 3 weeks old at which time they are transported to conventional broiler finishing houses. A high density brood house having a capacity of producing about 100,000 chicks (enough to supply 5 conventional finishing houses of the size cited above) can be constructed at a lesser cost than the building of 5 additional houses required to double production in accordance with conventional broiler raising practice.
Although the combined use of a high density brood house and conventional broiler finishing houses requires a special vehicle to transport the approximately 3-week-old chicks to the finishing houses, the use of multiple combinations of such brood and finishing houses permits the cost of the vehicle to be distributed among such combinations so as not to eliminate the economic advantage obtained by interfacing the high density brood houses with the finishing houses. Furthermore, the use of high density brood houses provides a number of additional advantages including:
1. decreased land usage; PA1 2. decreased energy consumption; PA1 3. a controlled environment for young chicks during their most critical stage of growth; PA1 4. reduced labor; PA1 5. an improved grade of fertilizer derived from the brood house droppings; and PA1 6. decreased medication requirements.